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went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. 3 When they summoned Jeroboam, he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him, 4 “Your father put a heavy yoke on us. However, if you lighten your father’s harsh labour demands and the heavy yoke he put on us, we will serve you.”
5 Rehoboam replied, “Go away for three days, then return to me.” So the people left.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive. He asked them, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”
7 They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them, and if you answer them with kind words, then they will be your servants forever.”
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advise the elders gave him and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and were now in his service. 9 He asked them, “What do you advise we answer these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him answered, “This is what you should say to these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us’: tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s lions! 11 My father laid a heavy yoke on you; I will add to your yoke. My father scourged you with whips, but I will scourge you with scorpions’.”
12 So Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam on the third day, since the king had said, “Come back to me on the third day.” 13 The king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advise the elders had given him, 14 and spoke to them according to the advise of the young men. He told them, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father scourged you with whips, but I will scourge you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events was from the Lord, in oder that He might fulfil His word, which the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
16 When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king:
“What share do we have in David?
We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.
To your tents, O Israel!
Look after your own house, O David!”
So Israel went off to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam continued to reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent out Adoram, who was in charge of forced labour, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to hurriedly get in his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
20 When all Israel had heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.
21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he assembled from all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel and regain the kingdom again for Rehoboam son of Solomon.
22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: 23 “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 24 ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must not go up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you must return to his home, for this thing is My doing” ’.” So they listened to the word of the Lord, and went home again, as the Lord had told them to.
25 Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. From there he went out and built Penuel.
26 Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom will now likely return to the house of David. 27 If these people still go up to offer sacrifices in the House of the Lord at Jerusalem, the heart of these people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. Then they will kill me and go back to King Rehoboam of Judah.”
28 So the king sought counsel, and he made two golden calves of gold. Then he said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Here are your gods, O Israel who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 29 He set up one in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to worship.
31 Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places, and appointed priests from every class of persons, even though they were not of Levite descent. 32 Jeroboam instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. He also stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had built. 33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month—the month he had devised himself—he offered sacrifices upon the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted a festival for the Israelites, and he offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.